


With a smile and a song

by altairattorney



Category: Twin Peaks
Genre: Gen, Spoilers, dark forebodings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-23
Updated: 2017-02-23
Packaged: 2018-09-26 12:36:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9896723
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/altairattorney/pseuds/altairattorney
Summary: The first answer Albert gave him was no.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [laughingpineapple](https://archiveofourown.org/users/laughingpineapple/gifts).



The truth was – to hell with assumptions – Albert and skepticism didn’t go so well together.

Feet on earth and mind clear, like that he was; stupid he wasn’t. He never turned away when reality cracked, and the smoke of corruption seeped through from the other side. To ignore the way its black fingers curled, reaching for beauty, reaching for all they could, would have been plain _moronic._

It wasn’t a matter of belief – he fought those monstrosities with his sheer life force, damn, he did. He had built his existence around pushing them back, scientist or not. What he practiced, when words like _nonsense_ and _ravings_ left his mouth, was self-defense.

Then again, it worked well for him. He was not so sure it would work for someone else. When Cooper spoke to him for the first time, everything vanished in the purity of his soul, and Albert froze – he could tell each pattern the dark fingers drew, from behind, just at the edge of him.

The first answer Albert gave him was _no._

His rebuttals grew in strength, tenfold. It never really seemed to work. It was Cooper’s art to smile at inappropriate times – when his voice became sheer energy, his brightness bait. Albert, as always, did his best to suffocate it.

Sometimes he patted himself on the back, delusional. Sometimes he even thought he could fix him, in time. To keep him far away from the closing distance, from the loop of paralyzing music in his ears – Albert couldn’t have asked for more.

Yet, Cooper smiled. First in drops, then like a river current, what light his mouth brought to the day began to vanish from Albert’s sleep. He caught himself dreaming of his singing lips, in sceneries of black and velvet, just to wake up drenched in sweat.

 _I don’t believe you_ , Albert repeated, chest swept by a raging storm. In blind faith, in his trap, Cooper kept beaming.

When he last talked to him for real, Cooper shone the brightest. Where the rays lost themselves, Albert saw black fingers curled around his shoulders, melting on his suit, almost unnoticed. Like his body had somehow extended itself in them. A part of him surrendered.

 _Do the best you can,_ Albert told him. It sounded like a prayer, and it was.

Cooper’s smile never broke. It stayed unanswered.


End file.
